Future Imperfect
by OrbThesela
Summary: AU – The story of the lives of Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini and the downfall of the pureblood race. It will chronicle their lives, their loves, their highest points and their lowest. Rated M for Strong language, Violence & adult themes.
1. Chapter 1 Past Prologue

**Disclaimer: **All characters and terms associated with Harry Potter, belong to JK Rowling. The title of this fanfiction is borrowed from a Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode, which belongs to Paramount Pictures and the estate of Gene Roddenberry. The title of this chapter is taken from an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which also belongs to Paramount Pictures and the estate of Gene Roddenberry. All I own is the plot, some characterisations and the occasional OC. Any opening chapter quotes/lyrics shall be attributed as appropriate.

**Warnings:** Rated M for use of strong language, adult themes, violence and sexual references & scenes. With any particularly strongly themed chapter, I will place warnings as appropriate.

**A/N: **AU – Future Imperfect is the story of the lives of Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini and the downfall of the pureblood race. I will attempting to chronicle their lives, their loves, their high points and their low ones. I am unsure at this point how dark this fic will become, but warnings will be placed on chapters, should they be needed.

**Chapter 1 – Past Prologue**

"_The reason people find it so hard to be happy_

_is that they always see the past better than it was, _

_the present worse than it is, _

_and the future less resolved than it will be_."

_Marcel Pagnol_

* * *

Charlotte wasn't exactly sure what drew her to the Gobstones shop that day, it was a place most of her friends avoided, as it seemed as creepy as it was unkempt. The pale yellow light emanating from the windows told her that someone was inside the building, at least. She pushed open the door, a bell hanging above the frame rang out as she entered the building, causing her to jump slightly. Scanning around, all she could see were jars upon jars of gobstones stacked upon shelves, with a few photographs hanging on the walls of famous Gobstone players of the past. As her gaze reached the counter, she was only mildly surprised to see a middle aged, black man sitting behind it.

"Oh!" She said, a little taken aback. "I didn't realise that someone was here." She gave him an apologetic smile as she crossed over the room towards him.

"Of course someone is here, who else do you think runs this place, the mice?" Replied the man, opening a cardboard box on the counter and pulling out a brown coloured ticket. "It's three sickles if you want to have a look around the museum in the back, you need a ticket though of course."

Charlotte hesitated for a moment. "Oh, well, I'm not sure, I'm meant meeting my friend you see…"

"Friend?" He said, cutting her off. "Well of he told you to meet him here, surely your goal is to look around the museum?"

"Well actually, I'm meeting him outside of Gringotts, only I have some spare time and thought I would come in and look around."

"I see." The man placed the paper ticket back in its box. "Well I suppose you can browse here while you're waiting for him to arrive, you're not disturbing me and should you see anything that takes your fancy, I'm right here." He picked up a paper back novel with a battered cover from under the counter, opening it he unfolded a dog-eared corner and began to read.

Feeling a little guilty that she had perhaps hurt his feelings, Charlotte smiled at the man, thinking quickly of an interesting question she could perhaps ask him about his shop while she was waiting for her friend to arrive. "My name is Charlotte, is this your shop, Mr….?"

The man folded down the corner of the page he was reading before placing the book down on the counter. "Mr Zabini." He tapped his index finger on a worn name plate he had on the counter. "And yes, this is my shop."

Charlotte nodded, hoping he was going to volunteer more information, but he didn't seem willing. "Ok." There was a small uncomfortable silence before she took another breath to speak. "What fascinates you so much about Gobstones?"

He arched his eyebrow, giving her a curious look. "What makes you think I'm interested in Gobstones, at all?" He said.

"Well…" She began, a little hesitantly. "The fact that you own and operate a Gobstones shop and apparently, museum." She moved back a little, leaning against an empty space of wall.

He smiled at her, his teeth, although not entirely straight, were at least very clean. "Actually, young lady, it was my Granddad, who had the fascination, it was his shop to begin with."

"What was he like?" She asked, vaguely interested now as to why a man would run a shop selling items he appeared to have no interest in.

"That's him." He said, pointing to an old photograph hung on the wall. "Not exactly how you would imagine your typical Gobstones player, is he?"

Charlotte peered at the photograph, the man in the picture was holding a trophy under his arm, he appeared to be extremely tall and well built, he was smiling broadly out of the frame, stood next to another man of a similar age, who was a little shorter, with long, white blonde hair. "That's him?" She said, pointing to black man, holding the trophy. "But he's..."

"So big? I know." The man smiled at her, coming from around the counter to lift the photograph from the wall, so she could see it better. "They used to call him, The Bear, because he was an incredibly strong man, but as soft as a teddy bear."

"Who's the other man?" She said, pointing to the pale man with blonde hair, in the photograph. "That..." He paused, how much was he willing to tell the young girl who had wandered into the shop? "That was my Granddad's best friend, they called _him_ The Dragon."

"Was your Granddad a Gobstones champion?" She asked, looking up at the shopkeeper, observing his mouth pulling into a slight smile.

"Yes, he was, they said he was the best player of his generation, some even said that he was the best player to ever play in the leagues." He smiled down at the two youthful men in the photograph, before hanging the picture back in its place.

"How come I've never heard of him?" Charlotte asked, although instantly regretting it. "I mean... Well... If he was so good, why wasn't he famous?"

He sighed, looking at the young girl. "Well, that's really a long story, and to tell it right, you'd have to hear the whole story. From the very beginning, to the very end, are you sure you have the time to listen to it?"

She nodded her head, her curiosity too peaked now to walk away. "I'd very much like to hear it, if you want to tell it."

He seemed to consider this for a moment, before moving across the room, disappearing behind a curtain, only to return a few moments later with a worn, looking chair. "There you go." He said, placing it on the floor for her to sit on. "If you're sitting comfortably, we can begin. Because we really need to go to the _very_ beginning and that began, with my Great Grandfather."

* * *

"Now come on, son, don't you want to see what Daddy brought you?"

"No!"

"No? Well it's a very special present, I can't just throw it away. I'll bet there are lot's of other little boys who would want it. How about I give it to your friend Draco instead?"

The little boy narrowed his eyes as he stuck his head out from underneath the table, a facial expression, he had no doubt picked up from his mother. "No! Don't like him."

Lucretia Zabini rolled her eyes as she sipped from a glass of black vodka. "Ash, he clearly just wants to be left alone, why don't you just let him get on with it?"

Ash Zabini turned his head, from his uncomfortable position, bent over and trying to coax his son out from under the coffee table. "Because I haven't seen him for a month, Lucy. I want to spend some time with him before I go away again, you know, you really should be making more of an effort to get him to interact with other children, or he's going to grow up to be a very anti-social boy."

"He interacts with Draco."

"Yes, but, don't you think he needs to mix with _other_ children as well?"

"Ash, he's only four, he's got plenty of time to make friends."

"Maybe if he had a brother or sister..." Ash began, only to be cut off promptly by his wife.

"No. I'm not going through that again, not after what happened with... No, Ash. I'm not having anymore." She put down her glass, giving her husband a look which said: I am not discussing this any further.

"You might feel differently in a year or two."

"Oh it's bloody alright for you, isn't it? He might as well not have a father for the amount of time he gets to see you. It was different for you, you weren't stuck here, being reminded everyday that..."

"What is it?"

The two adults turned their heads, seeing that during their mild argument, their son had crawled out from underneath the table and was now looking up at his father with his large, brown eyes. "What's what, son?" Ash asked, bending down so he could talk to his son, face to face.

"My present, what is it?" The small boy looked at his father with curiosity.

Ash couldn't refrain from smiling, he pulled a wooden box from his inside pocket and placed it in the small hands of the boy in front of him. "I thought it was about time I bought you a proper set."

"Oh no, Ash, not those stupid, bloody..."

"Gobstones!" Blaise cried excitedly as he opened the box, looking at the small multicoloured balls. "Thank you!" He threw his tiny arms around his father, hugging him as tightly as he could.

"You're welcome, Blaise." Ash said, giving his son a little pat on the back.

"You _should_ have bought him a toy broom, instead." Said Lucretia. "A boy of his age should be encouraged to be interested in quidditch, not that stupid little game."

"Quidditch is dangerous and Gobstones _is_ a sport."

They heard a knock at the front door, then the sound of it opening.

"Hellooo? It's only me!" Came the familiar voice from the hallway.

"We're in the parlour, darling." Shouted Lucretia, picking her glass back up.

The parlour door opened and Narcissa Malfoy entered the room, a small blonde boy following close behind her. "Oh, hullo, Ash. I didn't realise you would be here, it's good to see you. I brought Draco so the boys could play together while Lucretia and I had a chat."

The small black boy curled his fingers around the material of his father's trouser leg, gripping onto them tightly. Ash bent down and scooped his son up into his arms, swinging him onto his shoulder, causing the small child to laugh. "Well how about I take the boys outside to play while you girls catch up?"

"Well, that sounds fine to me." Narcissa smiled, looking down at her son. "Draco, do you want to go play outside with Blaise and Mr Zabini?"

The small boy pursed his lips and shook his head violently.

"Oh, he's just shy." Narcissa laughed. "Take him outside, Ash, I'm sure they'll have fun."

Ash nodded and scooped the small blonde boy up with his left arm, slinging him over his left shoulder, despite great amounts of verbal and physical protesting. "You girls have fun, come on boys, let's go outside." With that Ash carried the two small children out of the parlour and into the gardens of the Zabini Mansion.

He set the boys on the ground carefully and bent down so he could talk to them on their level. "So, boys, what do you want to do? Play tags? Go look for Gnomes?"

"I want to fly!" Demanded Draco, folding his arms.

"You want to fly, eh?"

"On a broom."

"Well I think you're a little young to fly on a broom." Said Ash, placing his hands under the boys armpits and lifting him up into the air. "How about this instead?" He swang the small blonde child into the air, smiling as Draco began to giggle and how his arms out.

"My turn, my turn!" Blaise jumped up on and down on the grass, jealous that his father was giving attention to a boy he didn't particularly care for.

"You can take turns." Ash said, swinging Draco in another large loop before setting him down on the ground.

The young Malfoy giggled, as he sat on the grass, a little dizzy from being swung in the air.

Ash picked up his son, swinging him in the same manner he had for Draco, smiling broadly as the child shouted. "Faster, Daddy!"

"Master Ash! Put him down this instant!"

Ash looked at the doorway of the house and laughed, shaking his head slightly before kissing his son on the cheek. "Uh oh... Look's like Daddy's going to get into trouble." He put Blaise down on the ground, laughing as the impetuous house elf stormed across the grass, pointing his finger at him.

"Master Ash, I have told you and told you, you should not be reckless with Master Blaise. You could hurt him." The house elf took hold on Blaise's chin, turning his head and inspecting him for injuries.

"Your house elf is bad!" Said Draco, glaring at the creature who was prodding the young boy next to him. "You shouldn't let him talk like that."

"Oh, Barton's harmless." Ash said as he bent down to the same level as the boys and the elf. "He just likes to think that he's more responsible than I am when it comes to looking after Blaise."

"Barton, stop it, it tickles." Blaise laughed, trying to swipe the elf's hands away from his sides.

The house elf tutted. "Alright, Barton is satisfied that Master Blaise isn't hurt."

"Oh good." Ash said, shaking his head at his servant. "Does that mean that I can continue playing with my son now?"

"Master Ash can continue, but only if he is not being dangerous again. Barton will be watching." Barton snapped his fingers and disappeared with a loud 'crack!'

"Well boys, looks like flying is out, how about a game of tags instead?"

"I wanna make a snowman!" Said Blaise.

"It's not snowing, son."

"You should kick your house elf, he's cheeky." Draco said, pointing at the spot that Barton had been stood.

Ash placed his hand on Draco's shoulder. "Draco, one day you understand that servants will always be loyal to you, if you treat them with kindness, not make them fear you."

* * *

It was only a month later, when sat in the parlour of the Malfoy Manor that Lucretia received the owl. She unfolded it curiously, wondering what could be so important that the owl had been told to seek her out, whatever location she should be in, rather than leaving the letter at her house. After reading half the page, the glass of black vodka in her hand dropped to the floor, smashing, it's contents spilling all over the wooden floor, causing Narcissa to jump and Lucius Malfoy to enter the room a few seconds later, wondering what the commotion was about.

Lucretia started to sob, falling into the arms of her friend.

Narcissa was confused, she looked up at her husband then down at the woman crying into her shoulder. "Lu, whatever is the matter? What's wrong?"

Unable to form any words, Lucretia held up the letter, Lucius took it from her hand, peering at the handwriting before reading it aloud. "We write to tell you that your husband had a very serious accident. We are very sad when he died..." Lucius paused, he gave his wife a concerned look as Lucretia continued to sob into her arms. "He was a good man, he was good to us. We will send back his body with a person who can tell what happened. We hope you are OK. We are very sorry." Lucius scanned the letter, the broken English, along with the name signed at the bottom told him that the writer was more than likely German, and they were neither used to writing in English or telling someone that they had lost a husband.

A few tears formed in Narcissa's eyes as she started to stroke her friends hair. "There, there, darling. Just let it out."

"What am I going to tell Blaise?" Lucretia said, between heaving sobs. "He's only four, he won't understand. How I can tell him that... that... that he's never going to see his daddy again...?" She broke into a fresh batch of sobs, burying her head in her friends shoulder.

Lucius pursed his lips, he looked out of the parlour window, seeing his own son along with Blaise, playing a game outside. He looked back down at Lucretia and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Would you like me to tell him, Lucretia? I think you're a little too upset to help him understand."

Lucretia sniffed and nodded her head, trying to wipe the tears from her face. "Thank you, Lucius..." She burst into another set of sobs. "Oh, Cissy! My Ash! I'm never going to see my Ash again."

Narcissa handed her friend a handkerchief, beginning to well up, herself. "I'm so sorry, Lu. He was a good man, he was a good father. I'm sure when Blaise grows up, you can tell him all about his father, he'll probably grow up to be just like him."

"It's not fair! It's not fair, Blaise will never know him properly. Why did this have to happen, Cissy? Why?" Lucretia collapsed backwards, crying with an exhausting amount of energy as her friend tried to comfort her.

Lucius walked out into the area where the two children were playing, they were taking turns to chase each other, as one caught the other he would shout, "You're it!" And then turn and run in another direction.

He cleared his throat and looked to the two boys. "Boys, can you stop playing for a minute? I need to talk to Blaise."

The boys stopped running, Blaise looked up at Draco's father, he was a little scared of him. He always imagined that the snake on the top of his cane would bite him if he got too close.

"Ha, ha!" Draco pointed at Blaise. "You're in trouble."

"No one is in trouble, Draco. I need to talk to Blaise about something important." Lucius said, beckoning the child to come closer. "Come here, Blaise."

Blaise swallowed and walked up to the tall man, looking up at him with his large brown eyes. "Yes, Mr Malfoy?"

"Now, Blaise, do you understand that sometimes, when people get very old or have an accident, that they die?"

Blaise peered up at him curiously and shook his head. "No."

"Alright, let me put it another way. You and me and Draco, we are alive." He paused taking a few deeps breaths in and out and putting his hand on his chest, above his heart. "See we are breathing in and out and our hearts are beating, this means we're alive. Do you understand?"

Blaise nodded his head. "I'm alive because I can breath and because my heart is beating."

"Very good. Ok, well sometimes, when people get very old, their bodies don't work properly anymore and they stop breathing and their heart stops beating and then they die. But that's ok because even though we might miss them and we'll be very sad, they have lived for a long time." Lucius frowned a little, not entirely sure if he was explaining the matters of life and death to the four year old, properly. "And sometimes, when people aren't old, they get very poorly or they have an accident and their bodies can't work properly anymore and they die as well. Do you understand?"

"Am I going to die?" Blaise said, looking up at Lucius, his large brown eyes seemed glossed with confusion.

"No, my boy, you are not going to die, but your father..." He sighed; there was no way of avoiding it. "Your father has had an accident and his body couldn't work properly anymore."

"Well, my Daddy _is_ going to get better because he told me he's going to take me to the Gobstones competitions when I grow up."

Lucius shook his head. "I'm sure he would have liked to take you, Blaise. But he can't now. He's dead. I'm very sorry, son."

"No! I don't believe you! Where's my Daddy? I want my Daddy!" Blaise started to cry. "I want my Daddy!"

"I'm sorry, Blaise. But you won't be able to see your father again." Lucius said, offering the crying boy a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"No!" The small boy started blubbing, tears falling over his dark cheeks. "I want my Daddy! Where's my Daddy?"

Lucius took a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to the boy to blow his nose with. "Now, dry your face, big boys don't cry. Your mother is inside and is also very upset, so you must stay outside with Draco until you stop crying." With that, Lucius turned and walked back inside the house.

Draco bit his lip, he wasn't sure what was going on, only that something had happened to Blaise's daddy and now Blaise couldn't see him again. It made him upset to see the boy crying so much, burying his face into the handkerchief. He walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "There, there, Blaise. You can borrow my daddy if you like..."

It was the first act of friendship ever offered by either of them; being shoved into a room together time after time and being told to play nicely, hardly counted. A bond of sympathy formed between them that day, though neither would even realise it.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**So, chapter one, thoughts & comments, would be most welcome. ** **I have the whole thing plotted out in a notepad, I'm not sure how long it's going to take to tell it all, lol. **

**Originally, the boys were playing 'tigs' not 'tag' until it was pointed out to me, by my wonderful beta, that no one outside of the North East of England would have any clue what 'tigs' was. **

**Thanks go to my Beta, Twiist, for her tireless efforts to make sure that I don't write sentences that make no sense. **

**Please R&R**


	2. Chapter 2 Past Imperfect

**Disclaimer: **All characters and terms associated with Harry Potter, belong to JK Rowling. The title of this fanfiction is borrowed from a Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode, which belongs to Paramount Pictures and the estate of Gene Roddenberry. The title of this chapter is taken from a Star Trek: Untold Voyages, comic, which also belongs to the estate of Gene Roddenberry. All I own is the plot, some characterisations and the occasional OC. Any opening chapter quotes/lyrics shall be attributed as appropriate.

**WARNING** This chapter contains scenes which some people may find disturbing, however is one of the reasons this fic is rated as M. If you do not like reading scenes which involve violence and adult themes, then it suggested that you do not read the latter half of this chapter.

**Chapter 2 – Past Imperfect**

"_There is always one moment in childhood_

_when the door opens and lets the future in.._."

_Deepak Chopra_

* * *

Charlotte sat forward and crossed her legs, trying to get a little more comfortable in her chair as the man told the story. She frowned a little as he paused and checked his watch, she didn't want him to stop just as it was becoming more and more interesting, he was talking about time that was 80 years gone, when the whole world was drastically different.

"Will you excuse me?" He said, pushing himself off the counter. "I will be no more than ten minutes."

She watched as he disappeared behind a curtain, drumming her fingers on the back of her chair, until he returned, ten minutes later, carrying two mugs of steaming tea. She nodded gratefully as he handed her one.

"There you go." He said as he handed her the mug, then placed his own on the counter, lifting himself back onto it. "I hope you take sugar, I put a couple in."

She nodded her head. "I do, thank you. Please continue the story, what happened next to your Granddad? After he found out that his father had died, I mean." She wondered briefly if asking this would upset him, then reasoned to herself, that he would never have known his Great Grandfather.

"Actually, I don't know what happened, _directly_ after that. My Granddad couldn't remember his father, he was too young to retain any memories of him when he died. Although he told me once, he had vague recollections of his father giving him the gobstones set. But it was a patchy memory at best, it was my Great Grandmother who told me what happened. There's something you need to understand, Charlotte, a lot of this story has been passed onto me by different members of my family, I've pieced together what happened for myself. Though not entirely from just word of mouth, I've learned that over the years, my family have had a habit of glossing over the truth and not including important details."

"Then how have you filled in the gaps?" She asked, blowing on her tea before taking a sip.

"Through ways and means taught to me by my Grandfather." He smirked slightly. "That's not really important, though, is it? Do you want to hear the next part?"

She nodded her head eagerly as the dark skinned wizard took a sip from his mug of tea. She wondered if he was mixed race, the photograph of his Granddad had showed a very dark skinned man, his skin colour was much lighter by comparison. She was about to ask, when the bell above the door rang out, and a young man, she guessed to be in his twenties, came through the door.

The young man, eyed Charlotte dubiously, before looking to the man sat on the counter. "Alright, Dad. Can I have a couple of Galleons? Me and the lads are going for a few in the Hogshead and I don't get paid until Friday."

He sighed and shook his head, popping down from the counter. "Honestly, Draco, I don't know where your money goes." He walked around the counter, opening the till and retrieving a few Galleons, handing them to the black boy on the other side of the counter. Charlotte noted that _his_ skin, was a much darker shade than his father's. "Are you going to go upstairs before you go off? It wouldn't kill you, you know, to give up five minutes of your day."

"I'll go tomorrow." He said, pocketing the coins. "I'm not spending half an hour trying to explain where Cole is, again."

"What have I told you about that?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll pay you back on Friday, thanks Dad." With that, the young man left the shop, giving Charlotte another curious look before he shut the door behind him.

Mr Zabini sighed, resuming his place on the counter top. "That was my son, Draco. He's just like his Grandfather, in many ways."

"He's very handsome." Charlotte said, blushing slightly. "He looks just like..."

"Like my Granddad in the photograph?"

She nodded her head.

"Yes, he does. He takes after my father, in that respect, he was the spitting image of my Granddad as well. According to my mother, I'm the only one in my line who isn't a carbon copy of Ash Zabini, my Great Grandfather, although I think she might have been told that, in part by my Nanna. Anyway, that's not important, the problem with a young man like Draco is, when he knows how handsome he is, he often forgets to develop a personality along side it. I've done the best I can with Draco, all I can do, is hope that he meets a young girl who can beat any arrogance out of him."

Charlotte laughed, taking another sip from her mug. "You can only hope."

"Enough about him, where was I?" He took another sip from his mug. "Ah, now I remember, I was going to tell you what happened as they got older."

* * *

"Draco, I don't think this is such a good idea." The eight year old Blaise said, looking into the study as Draco reached up to the desk.

"Yes it is, you'll see." Said Draco, looking at his friend. "Just keep a look out for my father, we won't get into trouble if he doesn't catch us."

Reluctantly, Blaise stuck his head out of the door again, watching for signs that an adult was around. "I think you should leave that thing alone!"

"Oh, be quiet. You're only scared cos you think the snake is gonna bite you." Draco said as he grabbed the cane from the desk and pulled on the snake head, the wand pulling out easily.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not, am not, am not."

"Shut up. I've got it now, let's go." The blonde boy jumped down and ran through the doors of the study and along the passage way, the black boy following him close behind.

"Draco, what are we gonna do?" Blaise caught up to the small blonde boy, eyeing the wand with trepidation.

"There's loads of pixies at the bottom of the garden, we're gonna set them on fire!" Draco said, his eyes gleaming with the thoughts of mischief.

"I don't think is a good idea, what if we hurt one of them?"

"That's the idea, you numbskull. Doesn't matter if they get hurt, they're only pixies. Just, come on!" Draco grabbed hold of Blaise's sleeve and dragged him out into the garden of the Malfoy Manor, manoeuvring their way around a menagerie of statues and shaped topiary until they reached a patch of garden where they could clearly see the blue heads of pixies, peeking out of the top of the grass.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Shhh."

"_Draco_, what are you gonna do?"

"Well, I can't do anything when you're being noisy, can I? I said,_ shhhh_." Draco crept forward, pointing his fathers wand in the direction of the pixies, he began waving it madly and after a few seconds of absolutely nothing happening, some flashes of coloured light darted from the end of the wand, disturbing the pixies and sending them flying into the air.

Draco waved the wand again. The streaks of light continually missed the pixies, who seemed rather annoyed that their afternoon nap had been disturbed, until a streak of light finally hit one of the creatures and the boys watched as it fell to the ground.

"I got one, I got one!" Draco jumped up and down, waving his arms in the air, in celebration.

Blaise walked forward and bent down into the grass, picking up the limp pixie and holding it out in the air as Draco came to stand beside him, quirking a brow at the wilted creature. Tilting his head to one side and prodding his wand towards the Pixie's body, Draco frowned, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the creature as Blaise continued to stare at it, his lower lip quivering slightly.

"Weird little things aren't they? It would have been prettier on fire.."

Draco shrugged, prodding the pixie with the wand tip again as Blaise continued to stare down at it, sniffling for a moment before turning and running back towards the house.

"Blaise," Draco sighed. "where are you going?" As his friend declined a response, Draco shook his head and began to chase after him. "Blaise, come back! We're gonna get in trouble."

Blaise ignored Draco's shouts and ran into the house, looking around for the house elf. The house elf could fix the pixie, he was sure of it. He felt a sharp tug on his arm and turned his head, looking into the eyes of Draco. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna get Dobby to fix the pixie."

"Don't be so soft, you're always acting like a great big softie. Big boys aren't supposed to cry, remember?" He shook his head in an almost reproachful manner. "I'm gonna put my father's wand back before he notices, are you coming?"

Blaise shook his head. "No."

"Fine, be like that, _I'm_ gonna go get my broom and fly in the garden. You can play when you stop acting like a girl."

"Am not acting like a girl!"

"Are too!" Draco stuck his tongue out and ran off in the direction of the study. He opened the door carefully, looking around for signs of his father, before creeping in and replacing the wand in his father's cane.

Blaise looked around, wondering where he could find the house elf, when he heard footsteps behind him and froze.

"What have you got there, Blaise?"

He burst into tears.

Narcissa tapped him on the shoulder, peering curiously at the blue item held carefully in the small child's hands. "What have you got?"

He turned around, sniffling as he held up the pixie for Draco's mother to see. He knew he was going to get in trouble now, he wondered if Draco's father was going to feed him to the snake on his cane. "It's a pixie. I think it's broken, can you fix it?"

Narcissa pulled a face, the pixie in Blaise's hands looked like it had probably been half-dead when he found it in the first place. She looked down into the black child's large brown eyes, tears streaming down his face. "There, there. Don't worry, you give it to me and I'll send it to the pixie hospital and they'll make it better." She took hold of the pixie's leg, holding it with her thumb and her forefinger, trying to touch it as little as possible. "Have you got a hankie?"

Blaise nodded and pulled a cloth handkerchief from his pocket.

"Alright, blow your nose and go outside and play with Draco."

Blaise blew his nose on the hanky, then stuffed it back in his pocket, giving Narcissa a huge smile before running out of the door.

Narcissa gagged at the sight of the pixie. "Dobby!"

The house elf appeared with a loud _crack_. "Yes, Mistress?"

"Put that in the bin." She handed him the pixie and went to rejoin Lucretia in the sitting room.

* * *

They were nine when they broke the table.

"Can't catch me with your stupid _gobstones_." Draco shouted as he zoomed off on his toy broom.

"Come back here and let me hit you!" Blaise shouted after him as they charged through the hallway of the Malfoy Manor, knocking over the house elf and sending a load of books he'd been carrying into the air.

Draco turned a corner and zoomed into the sitting room, laughing loudly as Blaise chased after him. "You could catch me if you had a _proper_ toy. Not those stupid things that spit at you."

"They are proper toys!" Blaise shouted, running into the sitting room as Draco stood behind the coffee table, dismounted from his toy broom.

"Are not." Draco grinned. "Doesn't matter anyway, you _still _can't catch me."

"Yes I can." Blaise said, running after Draco; which only amounted to five solid minutes of the two racing around the table, occasionally one of them changing direction if the other appeared to be winning.

Draco broke away from flying around the table, unfortunately quite dizzy from travelling in solid circles. he ran into a side table, which he just managed to dodge as it fell over, crashing into the coffee table.

Both boys stood looking wide-eyed at the table, an ornament lay in pieces across the top, and they could both see quite clearly a massive chip on the edge of the varnished wood.

"Uh oh." Blaise said, looking at the damage they had done. "You're gonna get in trouble."

"_We're_ gonna get in trouble. You were chasing me." Said Draco, unable to tear his eyes away the chip in his mothers favourite table.

"Boys, are you in here?" Narcissa's voice sounded from just outside the door, her slim frame appearing a moment later. "I've told you before not to play in here."

Blaise and Draco looked at each other, then turned around, standing side by side and trying to block the mess they had made with their bodies. "Sorry, mum. We'll go play outside." Draco said, grabbing Blaise's sleeve and trying to drag him out of the room.

"Just one minute." Narcissa stood, hands on hips.

Draco and Blaise swallowed.

"What have you done?" She moved forward, shaking her head as she saw the mess they had made. "Draco! This is why you're not allowed to play in here. You're lucky all you broke is that god-awful ornament your... OH MY GOD!" She spied the chip in her table. "What did you do to my table?"

"We're sorry." Draco said, looking up at his mother with wide, grey eyes. "We didn't mean it. We were just playing and we ran into the table and it was an accident."

"And by playing, do you mean that you were arguing?" Narcissa said, giving them a stern look.

"Yes." Both boys said, simultaneously.

She sighed and turned to look at her table, wondering what might be a suitable punishment for taking such a large chip from the wood. "Go play outside boys. It's nothing that can't be fixed."

The boys looked at each other and grinned, before bolting from the door.

Narcissa sat down next to the table, running her fingers along the wood. '_Children.._' She thought. '_They don't stay as children for long. Soon he'll be bringing girls home and raiding the alcohol cabinet when he thinks no one's around._' She ran her fingers along the table again, the chipped varnish felt coarse against her skin. '_I may not be able to keep him as a child, but I can keep this._'

She stood up to call the house elf to clean up the broken ornament, looking down once more to the chipped table and smiling to herself.

* * *

"What about the first time they used magic?" Charlotte asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" Mr Zabini looked up at her, his concentrating breaking as she asked her question.

"The first time they used magic, Draco and Blaise, I mean your Granddad."

"Well, I know the stories but, one of them is quite upsetting. Are you sure you're old enough to hear them?" He asked.

"I'm 18, I think I can handle it." Charlotte replied with a smile.

* * *

Draco was ten was he was given a Comet 260, he had wanted something more powerful, but Narcissa had insisted that he had a slightly older model, at least until he got a lot more confident.

"Draco, be careful!" Shouted Narcissa as her son kicked off into the air, flying above the garden.

"Narcissa, will you relax? The boy's a natural on a broom." Said Lucius, rolling his eyes at his wife's hen-pecking.

"Yes, Cissy." Lucretia shaded the sun from her eyes with her hand. "Be grateful he's at least _interested_ in flying." She glanced at her own son, who was sat on the grass, watching Draco swoop in the air. "Honestly, if his father wasn't already dead, I'd kill him for giving him those bloody gobstones."

Lucius chuckled. Narcissa bit her lip as Draco climbed higher.

Blaise ignored the banter between the adults, he just smiled and clapped his hands. "Yeah! Go on Draco!"

"Wouldn't you like to learn to fly, Blaise?" Lucretia said, prodding her son in the shoulder with her index finger.

"I _will_." Blaise said, batting away his mother's hand. "Leave me alone, mum."

In the air, Draco waved his hand at his mother, smirking as she gasped and brought both her hands up to her mouth. He looked around the grounds from his position in the air, he could see most of the gardens, he chewed on his lip, wondering what would be a good place to explore on his broom. He smiled to himself, the hedge maze.

It was half an acre in size, he'd never been allowed to go inside the yew tree walls alone, but he was on a broom, if he got lost, he could simply fly upwards. All he had to do was fly over the top of the rockery, which in actual fact was more of a bouldery.

Draco dived down and started heading for the maze, ignoring his mother's shouts to slow down. It was that moment that the wind chose to pick up.

He gripped his hands tightly around the shaft of the broom, but having little experience flying in strong winds, he didn't know what to do when the tail end of the broom swung violently sideways, causing him to lose his tight grip and sending him tumbling towards the ground.

By the time the three adults watching this scene play out had drawn their wands, they were surprised to discover Draco floating in the air, a good two feet above the large boulder below him.

Draco un-scrunched his eyes, wondering why he hadn't hit the hard rocks yet, he looked from side to side, then below himself, seeing that he was hovering in the air. He looked at his parents and grinned. "Mother! Look at what I did... OOGPHF!" He dropped from the air and hit the boulder, severely bruising his backside, but uninjured, other than that.

"Mum, look! Draco did magic!" Blaise shouted, pulling on his mother's sleeve.

"Yes, I can see that, darling." Lucretia said, putting her wand away.

Narcissa was the first to reach Draco, grabbing his chin with her fingers and inspecting his face from all angles, then grabbing his arms, making sure that he hadn't broken any bones before wrapping her arms around her son and pressing him to her chest, squeezing him tightly, despite his muffled protests that he couldn't breathe.

"Narcissa, I think he's fine." Lucius said, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder as he finally reached their position in the middle of the rockery. "You can let him go."

"Oh my poor baby!" Narcissa planted several kisses on her son's blonde hair, only to be pushed back a little by Draco so he could breathe.

"I'm _fine_, mother." He said, whilst standing up. "I'll just have to practise a bit more."

"That's the spirit, Draco." Said Lucius, "get right back on the broom."

Narcissa shot Lucius a foul glare. "If you think I'm _ever_ letting him up back up on one of those things, you are _severely_ mistaken."

It was only a week before Draco was back in the air, on a new broomstick.

* * *

Blaise sat in his bedroom, across the hall from his mother's room, holding his hands over his ears, trying to drown out the sound of his mother screaming. He was ten.

He didn't know where Barton was, he was sure that if Barton was around, he would make the screaming stop. He would save his mother from whatever was happening to her in her bedroom. He could hear his step-father shouting at his mother, he didn't know what she'd done wrong, all he could make out between the screams was her shouts of "please..." and "no..."

After ten minutes of sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth and humming to himself, he noticed that the noises had stopped. He slowly moved across his bedroom and turned the door handle, peaking around the doorframe, everything seemed quiet.

He took a few steps across the hallway, pressing his ear against the wooden door to his mother's room, an almighty scream from his mother's mouth soon followed. He jumped back, not knowing what to do. He reached up to the door handle and turned it carefully and was surprised when the door swung open and he saw his mother curled up in the corner of the room, his step father standing over her.

His mother's clothes were torn and hanging off her, his stepfather was just wearing a shirt and his underwear. Blaise didn't understand what had just transpired, although as he became older, a cold realisation would sweep over him, making his stomach turn and forcing him to excuse himself from the charms lesson he was sat it.

But the ten year old Blaise glared across the room, all he could see was that his stepfather had his hand raised to his mother, and nobody hurt his mother. "You get away from her!" He shouted.

His stepfather turned, seeing the boy in the doorway, he started laughing, then began to make his way across the room. "And what are you going to do about it, you little shit?"

He approached Blaise, his hand raised high, ready to smack the ten year old boy right across the hall. Blaise narrowed his eyes, everything in his body screamed for him to run, but he stood his ground. He was scared and incensed at the situation unfolding before his eyes, all he could think about was getting his stepfather to leave his mother alone.

Just as the large man was almost upon him, his mothers's vanity mirror shattered, the shards of glass flying across the room at his stepfather, who then dropped to the floor, yelling as bits of glass stuck in him from all angles.

"Blaise..." Lucretia darted across the room, grabbing her son by his shoulders and shaking him as he stood in the doorway, almost locked in a trance. "Blaise... Come on, Blaise. Snap out of it."

He shook his head and looked at his mother, reaching out to her face and touching her bruised cheek. "Did I just do magic, mum?"

"You did, son."

"I'm tired."

"Let's go lie you down."

When Blaise woke up the next day, his stepfather was gone. His mother told him that he had died, Blaise never questioned any further into this and they never spoke his name again.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Special thanks at this point go to my beta Twiist, who put as much work as I did into developing our favourite childhood stories, I just she doesn't mind me borrowing hers. Lol**

**Thanks also go to Sephoria, Siriusly Devoted, snapefan2007, Jonathan J Strange and GiggleGinny for their reviews. **

**Hope you guys like this chapter. **

**Please R & R**


	3. Chapter 3 Yesteryear

**Disclaimer: **All characters and terms associated with Harry Potter, belong to JK Rowling. A sentence of this chapter has been adapted from it's original writing in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' this sentence can be found at the beginning of the Yule Ball scene and is only used to tie this fanfiction in with it's canon counterpart. I remind readers that this is an AU and not all events will mirror that of the books. The title of this fanfiction is borrowed from a Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode, which belongs to Paramount Pictures and the estate of Gene Roddenberry. This chapter title is taken from an episode of Star Trek: The animated series, which also belongs to the estate of Gene Roddenberry. All I own is the plot, some characterisations and the occasional OC. Any opening chapter quotes/lyrics shall be attributed as appropriate.

**Chapter 3 - Yesteryear**

"_Beginnings are usually scary _

_and endings are usually sad,_

_but it's the middle that counts. _

_You have to remember this _

_when you find yourself at the beginning.._"

_Sandra Bullock_

* * *

Draco pressed his face against the shop window, his eyes widening as he looked at the new broom on display in Quality Quidditch Supplies. "_Mother_...?"

"No. Come on, darling we're here to buy your wand, you can ask your father about getting you a new broom." Narcissa said, placing her hand on his shoulder and guiding him down the street toward Ollivander's.

Draco sighed, taking one last longing look at the brooms, before resigning himself to walking next to Blaise as they headed to the wand shop. "I bet my wands going to be bigger than your wand."

Blaise shook his head with a smile. "No way, my wand is _definitely_ going to be bigger than your wand."

"Just think," Lucretia said, looking to Narcissa. "In about 3 or 4 years, they'll be having the same conversation, but about _entirely _different things."

Narcissa blushed and slapped her friends arm. "Lu! You can't say things like that."

"Face it, Cissy, they're going to be teenagers before you blink."

Draco pushed open the door to the wand shop and walked inside, Blaise following close behind him.

"Hello." Mr Ollivander said, looking up from the ledger on his counter. "Let me guess..." He turned around, looking through a pile of wand boxes, reading the tiny handwriting scrawled upon the yellowing labels.

Draco looked at Blaise who merely shrugged as their mothers entered the shop behind them.

"Here we go..." Ollivander said, picking up a blue box and laying it on the counter, opening it carefully. "Birch and Dragon Heartstring, try it out." He handed the wand to Draco, who shrugged and waved it, eliciting a pile of boxes to fly across the room. Mr Ollivander shook his head. "No, I think not." He plucked the wand from Draco's hands and placed it back in the box.

"Don't worry, darling." Narcissa said. "I had to try out 12 wands before I got the right one."

"Yes, Alder wood and Unicorn hair, if I remember correctly." Said Mr Ollivander, as he pulled a green box from the shelf in front of him. "A most difficult time I had figuring that one out."

Narcissa blushed. "Well, I've never had a problem with it."

"I would think not!" He pulled a wand from the green box and handed it to Draco. "Try this one, it's Reed and Dragon Heartstring."

Draco waved the wand, a pillow resting on a chair exploded. Oak and Unicorn hair smashed a vase. Birch and Phoenix Feather caused another pile of boxes to come tumbling from the shelves, narrowly missing Mr Ollivander's head. Alder and Phoenix Feather almost sent a chair flying through a window.

Mr Ollivander clucked his tongue as he climbed a ladder, selecting a yellow box from a high shelf. "Almost as awkward as your mother, Mr Malfoy. Perhaps we should try this one."

He climbed back down the ladder and placed the box on the counter, opening it carefully, he removed the wand from it's cushion and handed it to Draco.

When he grasped the wand in his hand and the air around him became warm, he felt for a moment that five lamps had been lit at once, then it died away, he looked down at the wand, then up at Mr Ollivander, who smiled.

"Ah, of course I should have known. Hawthorn and Unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, very good for conjuring." He plucked the wand from Draco's hand again, placing it inside it's box and handing it to him.

Draco clutched the wand tightly to his chest, he had a wand. At last, a wand of his very own.

"Now for, Mr Zabini." Mr Ollivander said, plucking a red box from a shelf near to him. "Why don't we try this one? Reed and Phoenix Feather, like your Mother's."

Lucretia beamed for a moment, until Blaise waved the wand and the chair in the corner of the room collapsed.

"Perhaps not." Mr Ollivander took the wand and replaced it with another, from a blue box on the counter. "Hazel and Dragon Heartstring, give it a wave."

Blaise did as Ollivander asked, then winced as a table holding a stack of boxes fell to pieces.

"Not that either." He pulled a green box from another shelf and removed the wand, handing it to Blaise. "I think we might have more success with this one."

Blaise took the wand, instantly feeling a warmth spreading through his body and looked up to see the smiling face of Mr Ollivander.

"As I suspected, Vine Wood and Dragon Heartstring, ten inches, good for charms work." He took the wand and placed it in the box for Blaise, handing it to him. "You young men are going to do very well with those, I imagine. Very well indeed."

* * *

"Bye, Mum!" Blaise waved to his mother through the window of the Hogwarts express. Lucretia gave a small wave back, Narcissa waved to Draco, who was covering his eyes with his hand, trying to ignore her.

"Will you sit down? Maybe they'll go away."

"But we're not going to see them until Christmas, aren't you going to wave goodbye?" Blaise said as the train began pulling out of the station.

"No, it's embarrassing enough that _you're_ waving goodbye. Just, sit down!"

Blaise shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the seat. "So, do we know anyone else going to Hogwarts?"

Draco started counting off names on his fingers. "Well, there's Crabbe and Goyle and Theodore Nott, that we know."

Blaise pulled a face. "Well if you spend anytime hanging around with the brainless-two, don't expect me to be around."

"Oh don't be dim, they could be good for doing stuff for us, they're really stupid, we could get them to do anything we want them to do."

"Such as?"

"Well I don't know, do I?" Draco sighed and pulled his wand out, twirling it between his fingers. "You think they'll be in Slytherin with us?"

"We don't know if we're definitely going to be in Slytherin, yet." Blaise reminded his friend. "What if I end up in Ravenclaw?"

"Oh how are you going to end up in Ravenclaw?"

"I'm not saying I will, I'm saying I could, we don't know... Hey!" Blaise wrinkled his nose. "Are you saying I'm not smart enough to be in Ravenclaw?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm saying, your parents, like mine, were in Slytherin, and as far back as we know, our families have been Slytherins. It's quite unlikely either of us are going to end up in other houses."

The door to their carriage opened, a bushy haired girl with front teeth that were a little too large poked her head into the compartment, looking at the two boys. "Have either of you seen a toad?"

"No." Said Draco, frowning at the interruption.

"Sorry." Blaise said, shaking his head.

"Oh well." She shrugged her shoulders and closed the door, moving along the train corridor.

Draco looked at Blaise and wrinkled his nose. "Honestly, who'd want to waste their time looking for a stupid old _toad_.. Some people have no taste whatsoever."

The compartment door opened again, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle bustled inside, sitting their plump frames onto the seats.

"Hey, Malfoy, look what we've found." Goyle said, thrusting his hands out, showing Draco a toad.

Draco laughed, Blaise rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Slytherin!" The sorting hat declared.

Blaise smiled, partly from the relief of finally being sorted into a house, (he couldn't understand why it had to be alphabetical,) and partly because he was sorted into Slytherin, along with his best friend.

He jumped off the chair and went to join the Slytherin table, sitting on the end, a girl with black hair was sitting next to Draco and from the looks she was giving him, there didn't see much chance of being able to move her.

Blaise glanced down the table, seeing a look of slight panic on Draco's face as he mouthed the words: _Help me_. Blaise shrugged his shoulders, there wasn't much he could do to help Draco, short of pushing the girl out of the chair, and even if he did, the headmaster had just announced the start of the feast, if he left his chair now, it could be disastrous.

Draco spent most of the feast, avoiding questions and engaging in as much conversation that was possible, with Crabbe and Goyle. Who, despite their appalling table manners, weren't glaring at him with a fierce intent, like the girl at his side.

Blaise tried talking to a blonde girl sat opposite him by the name of Tracey, but she didn't seem interested in hearing anything he had to say, her rhubarb crumble taking most of her attention. To his dismay, a girl who closely resembled a bulldog was quite interested in talking to him, but the fact that she chewed with her mouth open made his toes curl.

After the feast, they were taken to their dorm rooms, both Draco and Blaise could not help but feel shocked as they looked around the room, which was tiny in comparison to the bedrooms they had at home.

"Just think." Said Draco. "This must be what its like _all_ the time if you're a Weasley. Except they probably sleep on straw instead of beds."

Blaise chuckled and headed to the bed in the corner of the room. "Well, I think this one's mine. You have the one next to me, right?"

"Yeah, I do." Draco said, jumping onto the other bed. "And Crabbe and Goyle have those ones..." He pointed to the two beds opposite. "And that ones Notts."

"We're going to have some good times here, Draco." Grinned Blaise. "I just know we are."

The blonde boy opened up the trunk at the end of his bed and threw a bottle of butterbeer to his dark-skinned friend. "I think you might be right, Blaise."

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Charlotte said, placing her empty tea mug onto the floor.

"Of course." Said Mr Zabini, then gestured to her empty mug. "If you pass me that here, I'll go make us another one."

She nodded and handed him the mug. "When they went to Hogwarts, was that... Was that when Harry Potter was there?"

He chuckled and got off the counter, "Yes, it was. I'll be back in a minute."

He disappeared behind the curtain he had gone through before, returning with two fresh mugs of tea ten minutes later. He handed her a mug, then took his seat back on the counter.

"Thanks. So, did they know Harry Potter?"

He sighed. "Yes, they did. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say they were friends with him, actually..." He smirked. "They couldn't stand him."

"Why?"

He cleared his throat a little. "Allow me to quote my Grandfather. '_Potter was a fool-hardy Gryffindor who was never punished for breaking the rules and rewarded when his stupidity let him fall into situations that should have got him killed, but didn't._' Let's just say, they weren't really on each others Christmas card lists."

Charlotte nearly spat her tea out, she covered her mouth as she began to chuckle. "Well, the history books never described him that way."

"That's because the history books were mostly written by people who didn't go to school with him. Something you need to learn, Charlotte, there are always two sides to every story." He smiled at her. "I think I'll skip ahead a bit, if you don't mind. Their later years at Hogwarts are really the more interesting ones."

"I don't mind." She smiled. "It's your story, Mr Zabini, tell me whatever part you'd like."

"Technically, it's not my story, but thank you. I should really tell you a little about their fourth year."

* * *

By the time they entered their fourth year, they had changed drastically. Both had gone through a growth spurt, Draco was hitting five foot seven, he'd finally settle out at five feet ten when he hit 16. Blaise had hit five foot ten and was still growing, he'd eventually reach six foot five at the age of 17.

But it wasn't just their height that had changed, though still slim, Draco had become toned and more athletic, playing on the Quidditch team had helped with that. His lean, yet well shaped frame, often disguised under his uniform. Draco had also started growing his hair out, already becoming long in the back, he hoped to have it reach his shoulders by the time they were starting their NEWTs.

Blaise had spent a lot of time building up his muscles. As they entered fourth year, his chest had become broad and his stomach well defined, the muscles in his arms and legs were becoming larger and much more noticeable even under his uniform. His head remained permanently shaved, often commenting that Draco should trim his hair to shorter length only to be rebuffed with a return comment from Draco regarding the potential return of Blaise's once-was afro; which Blaise refused ever having despite a few childhood pictures proving quite different.

When stood together, they looked a little strange and not for the differences their physical appearance, but they seemed opposite in so many ways. Pansy, it seemed, was never too far behind Draco, some times at his request, some times despite his orders that she leave him alone. Blaise seemed to have a different girl almost every week, after going through a sexual bloom in their third year summer holidays, he had seemed to make it his mission to work his way through half the girls in the school. Draco was quite fond of winding up the Gryffindors at any given opportunity, Blaise could rarely be bothered to join in, but he'd laugh heartily as Draco recounted the stories to him in the Slytherin common room. Though they both did well in their lessons, they excelled in different subjects, Draco's main forte was potions, Blaise's was charms. Draco preferred Transfiguration, Blaise liked Defence against the Dark Arts, neither of them cared for Herbology or History of Magic much, though Draco was slightly amused when he found out that Blaise was only doing well in the latter subject, due to the help of a Ravenclaw girl whom he occasionally did 'favours' for. Draco never inquired what the _favours_ were, nor did he want to know.

It was the evening of the Yule ball...

"Mate, I _know_ it's a stupid question asking you, but you haven't seen my hair brush have you?" Draco asked as he pulled out the draw on his bedside table, rooting through the various items that had been thrown inside. "And before I say anything, I know you would have little use for it, but I was thinking maybe one of your bints might have used it while they've been in here." He shut the draw and walked to the closed curtains on Blaise's bed. "Are you listening to me or have you fallen asleep? It's only an hour and a half till we're supposed to be at the ball and we're supposed to be meeting the others in the common room first. Blaise?!" He sighed and grabbed hold of the curtains, pulling them open, then groaning.

Blaise grinned at Draco as the girl beneath him squealed and tried to cover her breasts. "Alright, mate. Bit busy at the moment, can you give me ten minutes?"

Draco shook his head and closed the curtains, sitting on the edge of his mattress, until the female occupant of Blaise's bed, emerged ten minutes later, blushing and putting her clothes straight. The curtains opened a few moments later, Blaise sitting on the edge of his bed, half dressed and smirking at Draco.

"Sorry about that, mate. What were you looking for?" Blaise grinned.

Draco quirked his eyebrow at his friend. "Who was that?"

"Erm, hang on, I know this one... Laura... Lizzie... Leanne... Lisa... Lynsey..." He shook his head. "No, it's gone, can't remember, it begins with an L though, I'm fairly sure of it."

Draco sighed at the black wizard opposite him. "Blaise, you've got all your life to catch syphilis, why are you determined to catch it before finish your OWLs?"

Blaise laughed. "I don't want to take Tracey to the ball with a loaded gun, so to speak."

"I beg you to stop using the colourful imagery." He shook his head. "Are you getting ready or not?"

"Yeah I am, I need to have a shower, though. Gimme about twenty minutes." Blaise said, standing up.

"I'll probably be downstairs, if I ever find my hair brush."

* * *

"Will you two hurry up?" Pansy said, her hand on her hip, glaring at the two Slytherin boys who were lagging behind the girls.

Blaise rolled his eyes and waved his hand at Pansy and Tracey. "Go ahead, we'll catch up, we've got stuff to talk about."

Pansy stomped her foot in frustration and turned, linking Tracey's arm, the two girls headed off towards the great hall. "C'mon, Tracey. We'll leave them to it."

Draco looked at Blaise, curiously. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Can't very well talk about them while their here, can we?" Blaise reached into his inside pocket and removed a silver hip flask, he unscrewed the lid, taking a sip before offering it to Draco. "Well obviously I'll be bringing Tracey back tonight, are you going to be bringing Pansy back too?"

"Oh my god, you are kidding me?" Draco took the flask from Blaise's hand, taking a sip of the contents. "You seriously expect me to discuss my sex life with you?"

"Or lack there of." Blaise smirked.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm not discussing this with you." He handed Blaise the flask back. "If you think I am, you've lost the plot, you've gone barmy."

"I'm your best mate." Blaise said, taking another sip from the flask before fastening the lid again and placing the flask back in his pocket. "Who's the one who looks out for you?"

"When you're around, you mean." Draco said, shaking his head and holding his hand out, signalling to Blaise to get the flask back out of his pocket. "When was the last time you stood in the Quidditch stands and sent hexes across the pitch for the fun of it?"

Blaise pulled the flask back out and handed it to Draco. "When was the last time you saw me at the Quidditch pitch, full stop? If I wanted to waste my time, watching people fly about on a load of glorified branches..."

"Would you _stop_ calling them glorified branches?" Draco said as he uncapped the flask, taking a sip. "They are _brooms_, there is a significant difference."

"I learned to fly the damn things didn't I? Get off my case, I'll call them what I like."

"Oh yeah, you learned to fly - barely, I might add - but when exactly was the last time you went for a flight _anywhere_?"

Blaise shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, in the summer holidays I flew around the back garden to make my mum happy. Look, stop changing the subject, what I was _saying_ was, if we're both bringing the girls back, then we might as well put up some wards on the room and keep Crabbe and Goyle locked out."

"Right.. And just leave a spectator position open for Nott? Nice plan, mate.."

"Bugger, I forgot about him. Merlin knows what he's up to, I haven't even seen him today."

"That's because you've been otherwise occupied, he already went down to Great Hall, while you were in the shower and I was covering your arse with Tracey..." He pulled a face. "Is it just me or did that sound wrong?" He took another sip and handed the flask back to Blaise.

"Slow down with that stuff or you'll lose your legs." Blaise said, taking a sip and pocketing it again. "Let's just get the dance over with, then we can sort out what to do with the girls when we come to it."

"I'm still not discussing my sex life with you."

"Cock tease." Blaise grinned.

"Mate, when you talk like that, it's no wonder people think we're gay."

"People think we're gay? Do you think this could be remedied by me lowering my standards as to who I bring back to the room?"

"If you lowered your standards anymore, you'd be bringing Granger back with you."

* * *

Pansy gaped as Hermione Granger walked past, on the arm of Viktor Krum, Draco couldn't seem to find an insult to throw at her, in-fact he barely recognised her. Tracey elbowed Blaise in the stomach, he was stood with his mouth hanging open.

Blaise bent his head and whispered to Draco. "Did I eat an aneurism for breakfast or was that Granger?"

"That was Granger, mate." Draco whispered back.

Blaise stood up straight and scratched the back of his head. "Well whatever she did to herself worked, she looks..." He stopped, noticing that Draco, Pansy and Tracey were all looking at him as if he'd just completely lost his marbles. "What? _What?_ I'm sorry, but look at her... She looks... good..." He pointed to the dance floor, where Viktor Krum had begun spinning her around for the first dance. "Ok you can all stop looking at me like that now, bloody hell, forgive me for being honest."

"Mate, I'd quit while you're behind." Draco said, shaking his head.

"Blaise, if your new standard is tarted up mudbloods, then you can forget..." Tracey found herself being interrupted.

"Look I never said I fancied her or anything, I just said she looked good, will you all back off? Bloody hell. You'd think I'd said _McGonagall_ looked good, the way you lot are carrying on."

"I think I would have been slightly less disturbed if you had said McGonagall looked good, mate." Draco said, smirking.

"What did you say, Mr Malfoy?"

Draco cringed at Blaise, mouthing the words: _I'm going to kill you._

Blaise smirked at Draco, and raised his eyebrows as he watched his friend turn around to face the transfiguration Professor.

"I said you looked good, Professor McGonagall." Draco said, his tight lipped smile concealing his gritted teeth.

"Oh, thank you, Mr Malfoy." McGonagall said, moving off towards the dance floor.

Draco turned back and glared at Blaise. "Why? Why do you do this to me?"

"Ah, you brought that one on yourself, mate." Blaise said with a wink. "I'd get Pansy on the dance floor before she comes back and asks to cut in."

Blaise ducked very quickly, avoiding the slap Draco tried to apply to the back of his head.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Thanks go to my Beta, Twiist, yes ok it took longer than an hour, if I send you many goat flavoured rainbows, am I forgiven?**

**Thanks also go to Sephoria, snapefan2007, Jonathan J Strange, GiggleGinny and Ms.WrightingFantasy for their lovely reviews.**

**Gah! I was going to leave you all a cryptic message here, but I realised it would give too much away, so I can't. All I can say is that the next couple of chapters should take place within a closer time scale, (rather skipping years, we might only be skipping months, weeks or days. Can't say too much at this point as I haven't written it yet.)**

**Please R&R.**


	4. Chapter 4 Inquisition

**Disclaimer: **All characters and terms associated with Harry Potter, belong to JK Rowling. The title of this fanfiction is borrowed from a Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode, which belongs to Paramount Pictures and the estate of Gene Roddenberry. The title of this chapter is taken from an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which also belongs to the estate of Gene Roddenberry. All I own is the plot, some characterisations and the occasional OC. Any opening chapter quotes/lyrics shall be attributed as appropriate.

**Chapter 4 – Inquisition**

"_This is not the end. _

_It is not even the beginning of the end. _

_But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."_

_Winston Churchill_

* * *

They were in their fifth year when things started to get a little rocky, and for the first time, they had found themselves having to work at keeping their friendship solid. Draco had found Blaise becoming progressively distant, distracted by work, not as willing to join in house activities as he had once been and he didn't like it.

"Anything you want to tell me, mate?" Draco asked, poking his head out his curtains as Blaise entered the dorm room, dumping his bag on his bed.

"Not particularly." Blaise said, sitting on his bed, raising his eyebrow as Draco pulled back his curtains and sat up, looking at him.

"You've been spending a lot of time in the library recently, coming back to the dorms later and later."

"And?" Blaise slipped open his satchel and pulled out his wand, laying it next to his pillow before shoving the bag under the bed with his foot. "It's our OWLs year, I want to do well, anything wrong with that?"

"Well, as pointless as doing well is in our positions, I suppose I can understand that.. Still, this 'doing well' angle your playing still doesn't quite seem to do justice to the amount of time you've been spending in the library.." Draco paused raising an eyebrow with a slight smirk. "You can tell me you know, I'm hardly unfamiliar with your ulterior motives, oh, and there's always that whole 'best friend' business as well.."

"There's nothing to tell. I went, I revised, I got a good chunk of my transfiguration essay done, that just about covers it." Blaise looked at Draco as if he'd gone mad, he lent over and pulled open the draw to his bedside cabinet, lifting a bottle of firewhiskey up from the inside. "It sounds like you go to the library for very different reasons than I do." He unscrewed the lid and raised the bottle to his mouth, taking a drink.

"Fine, continue to lie to me then; I'm a big boy, I can take it." He smirked, holding his hand out expectantly for the bottle. "Seriously though mate, you have been acting a bit... strange, recently, even if you're not about to tell me why you have been, you could at least acknowledge it."

Blaise gave Draco a despondent look before handing over the bottle to his friend, before removing his handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his chin.. "What do you mean, strange? What have I been doing that's resulted in this rather bizarre conversation?"

"It's what you _haven't_ been doing that's got me a little suspicious, mate."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"What he's skirting around, Zabini." Said Nott, sticky his lanky-haired head out from his bed on the opposite side of the room. "Is that it's been a while since we've been treated to the melodic sounds of the Slytherin House Bedroom Olympics."

"Did anyone ask you, Nott?" Blaise said, shooting him a murderous glance.

"Actually, I did." Said Draco. "I asked him if he had heard you bringing any girls back here in the last fortnight."

"I haven't been subjected to the moans and groans for at least a month." Nott said, before ducking back into his bed as Draco shot him a murderous glance of his own.

"So let me get this straight." Blaise gestured for the firewhiskey bottle back from Draco. "You're calling an intervention because I've _not_ been keeping the whole dorm awake?"

"Well if you put it that way, it's bound to sound stupid." Draco took a long swig from the bottle before handing it back to Blaise. "Is that one of the self-replenishing bottles, by the way? It's tasting a little weak."

"I just don't know what you're getting at, mate." Blaise looked at the bottle and shook his head. "No it's one of the regular ones, I think Aberforth has been watering them down again. We're going to have to have words."

"I think you might be right there. On the firewhiskey issue, not the issue of your recent lack of putting it about a bit."

"Look, mate. All concern is appreciated, but I've just been busy. If it'll make you happy, I'll go grab a lucky girl from the common room and bring her back up here for a quick ride on the..."

"If you say it again, I'll hex you." Draco said, pulling his wand from his pocket and pointing it at his friend. "I was appalled enough when you first coined the phrase, I don't need you repeating it at every given opportunity."

Blaise smirked. "The Blaise Express."

Draco hexed him.

* * *

A week later, Draco sat in the common room in front of the fire, occasionally sipping from a bottle of firewhiskey and staring at the crackling logs. He felt a hand on the back of his head, pulling at his hair, he looked up, seeing Pansy smirking down at him for a moment before she moved around the chair, plonking herself in his lap.

"I want to play." She said, grinning broadly at him.

"I'm not in the playing mood."

She pouted. "Then where's Blaise? He'll always play with me."

"I beg your pardon."

"Oh behave, you know what I mean."

Draco raised the firewhiskey bottle to his lips and took a long drink. "As far as I know, he's in the library. Again."

Pansy wrinkled her nose as Draco took another long drink. "You should really cut down on that stuff you know. I can't remember the last time you spent an evening completely sober."

"Drop it, Pansy. I'm not talking about this again." He sighed and waved his bottle in the direction of the door. "Why don't you go drag Blaise away from his books and we'll figure out some sort of midnight chaos mission. It's been a while since we've done anything and longer since Blaise actually decided to join us."

She pouted again, curling her fingers around the hair on the back of his neck. "Why don't you come with me?"

"Because, my dear, that would be _incredibly_ counter productive." He said, taking another drink from his bottle.

She sighed and got to her feet. "Fine, I'll go get him." Removing herself from his lap, she crossed the common room and left through the wall.

Draco stared into the fire, he actually didn't want to go on a random chaotic mission through the school, he'd rather sit there and drink, but Pansy was on his back and it was easier sometimes to just appease her. He considered how long it had been since he had just sat in the common room, not talking to anyone, just watching what was going on. There were some first years in the corner playing gobstones, he was actually quite glad that Blaise wasn't around to see that as he'd probably start lecturing them on the correct position to hold a gobstone.

He was feeling a little lethargic about his life in general, even though Slytherin had picked up a victory against the Hufflepuffs it wasn't enough to bring him out of the slump he was in. He wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to happen, but he was positive that if he could drag Blaise away from the books and get him more involved in a bit of old fashioned mayhem, then it would liven things up a bit.

The door to the common room opened and Pansy entered, alone, heading back towards Draco, he checked his watch, she had only been gone for fifteen minutes, not really long enough to convince Blaise to leave the studies alone for a night.

As soon as she reached him she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of his chair. "You need to come with me."

"What's going on?" He took another drink from his bottle. "Look if you can't get him back here on your own, I'm not going all the way down to the library to talk Blaise into coming with us, we'll just do something without him."

"I didn't talk to Blaise."

"Okaaay... Then why are you...?" He didn't get chance to finish his question before she cut him off again.

"Trust me, Draco. You need to come see this." She turned and started walking to the common room door again.

He considered staying and finishing his drink, but he had to admit, curiosity got the better of him and he stuffed the bottle down the side of the chair before following Pansy out of the common room. "Alright, were are we going?" He asked her as they walked along the dungeon corridor.

"To the library." She said. Her face looked like thunder, whatever she had seen had certainly got her heckles up.

"If he's having sex in there, I don't need to see it, I've already had front row seats to that show and it's one I don't intend to see again..."

"He's not having sex." Pansy said, looking at Draco seriously. "It's _much_ worse."

Draco raised an eyebrow, what in the name of Merlin could Blaise be doing that was worse than that? They made the rest of the journey to the library in relative silence, it only broke when they went through the library doors and by passed Madam Pince, Draco spoke in a low whisper. "Where is he?"

"Follow me." She said, leading Draco through the stacks, until they reached a relatively secluded corner of the library. She peered around the corner of a shelf, then quickly pulled her head back again, speaking to Draco in an almost silent whisper. "Ok, they're still there. Take a look."

Draco furrowed his brow, then peered around the edge of the stack, he saw Blaise first, a book open in one hand and gesturing with the other, talking about something that Draco couldn't quite hear. He leant his head around the corner a little more, his eyes widened as he observed the girl Blaise was talking to, who was looking up at him and smiling and nodding, whatever they were talking about, she seemed to be agreeing with him.

Draco pulled his head back and looked at Pansy. "Ok, you might have had a point bringing me here, because if you had told me, I never would have believed it."

"What do we do then?" She asked him. "Get his attention with some head polish then lure him back to the common room?"

"No." Draco said, looking around. "Let's leave him to it, for now. We'll wait for him in the common room, then confront him about it. There's got to be a logical explanation."

"Alright." She nodded her head, then followed Draco back to the common room.

* * *

Blaise entered the common room, his satchel over his right shoulder, a stack of books under his left arm, he started heading towards the door for the boys door, them jumped as a voice called to him from the emptying looking common room.

"Not joining us, mate?"

Blaise looked around, seeing the faintest peak of blonde hair sticking up from the top of one of the armchairs. He sighed and made his way over to the sofas. "I didn't know you were there, I was just going to go to the dorms, where is everyone?"

Draco looked up at Blaise and shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows, they probably had better things to do. Drink?" He held up a half consumed bottle of firewhiskey.

Raising his eyebrow slightly, Blaise took the bottle then sat in his usual seat, near to Draco. "Thanks."

"So," said Pansy, looking at Blaise from the other armchair. "Where've you been all night?"

Blaise took a drink from the bottle, his gaze shifting slightly between Pansy and Draco. "Just the library, revising."

"On your own?" Pansy asked, offering him a saccharin smile.

"Pretty much." Blaise replied, taking another drink from the bottle, then handing it to Draco, wondering what exactly this line of questioning was leading to.

Draco took the firewhiskey bottle and placed it on the table. "Are you sure about that, mate?"

"Fairly sure..." Blaise said, raising an eyebrow. "Well as bizarre as this conversation is, I think I'm going..."

"You're not going anywhere." Pansy said, cutting him off. Only to bite her lip as Draco shot her a foul look.

"Alright, what's going on?" Blaise asked, looking between Pansy and Draco. "This line of questioning has become quite cryptic and I'm not sure if I like it."

"We want to know what you're planning." Draco said plainly.

"Do you in life in general?" Blaise asked.

"No." Draco sat forward, staring at Blaise in the eyes. "I mean, with the mudblood. What are you planning?"

It took a few moments for Blaise to register what it was Draco was getting at, he raised both his eyebrows and looked at Draco accusingly. "Have you been spying on me or something?"

"Look mate, no one's been spying on you. Pansy went to find you and naturally came to find me when she saw you. And quite frankly, it concerned us a bit."

"Noted, but there is absolutely no need for it." Blaise said a little bitterly.

"Well then, why don't you tell us exactly what it was that you were doing talking to Granger?" Said Draco, eyeing Blaise slightly.

Blaise sighed and rolled his eyes slightly. "I was just talking to her."

"And a very pleasant conversation it looked indeed." Pansy interjected.

"So fucking what, if it was a pleasant conversation." Blaise said, angrily. "That's all it was, why are you two making such a big deal about it?"

"Mate, are you listening to yourself ?" Draco raised his eyebrow. "This isn't just any old Gryffindor, you know. This is Granger, queen of the fucking mudbloods and Potters ever faithful minion."

"You know I really don't have to sit here and take this, we talked, end of story." Blaise got to his feet, slinging his satchel back over his shoulder.

Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed Blaise's sleeve. "Oh just save the amateur dramatics, would you? Why are you getting so defensive about it if all you did was talk?"

"Because I shouldn't have to justify myself, to you of all people." Blaise said, pulling his arm away from Draco and retreating to the boys dorms.

Pansy looked at Draco and raised an eyebrow. "Do you believe him?"

"I do feel quite inclined to, yes." Said Draco, raising the bottle of firewhiskey to his mouth. "However, that doesn't detract from the fact that we could do with keeping a closer eye on him from now on."

* * *

The next evening at the dinner table, Draco was determined to make sure that Blaise would spend some time with him and not run off to the library, the fact that he could be spending time with Hermione Granger instead, was unthinkable.

Instead of taking his usual seat next to Blaise, Draco chose to sit opposite him, the fact that he was blocking any potential view of the Gryffindor table was only a small part of this decision. "You're not going to the library tonight, mate."

"I'm not sure." Blaise said, spooning some roast potatoes onto his plate. "Maybe, I have to finish that potions essay that Snape..."

"It wasn't a question, mate." Draco said, cutting him off. "You're not going to the library tonight. It's been far too long since you've chosen to engage yourself in a bit of Slytherin mayhem, so I'm volunteering you to help."

"And what exactly is it that you're volunteering me to do?" Blaise grinned a little. "Oh, are we going to break into the laundry and shorten all the girls skirts by four inches?"

Draco shook his head with a slight smirk. "No. I think that should you ever decide to carry out that plan, it'll be a one-man mission."

"Now you see, that's the kind of mission I could really sink my teeth into."

"Well unfortunately for you, it's not that we've got planned."

"Well what is it then?" Blaise asked, arching his eyebrow.

"I don't want to get into it here, let's just say we'll be needing your expertise."

"My expertise? What, do you need me to shag someone?" Blaise said with a grin.

Draco threw a spoon at him.

* * *

"I hardly think this qualifies as 'expertise,' you know." Blaise complained. "You could easily have got Crabbe or Goyle to do this, I really needed to finish that essay."

"Oh will you stop whinging?" Draco rolled his eyes. "This is important, I could hardly rely on Crabbe or Goyle to do it, they're too fucking stupid."

"Well why can't I go with you instead of Pansy?" He pouted. "I'm stronger than Pansy."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "We're messing with that great oaf's menagerie, it's going to take intelligence, not brute strength."

Blaise looked at Pansy blankly for a few moments before looking at Draco again. "Then I definitely should go with you instead of Pansy."

Pansy shot Blaise a foul look then kicked him in the shin.

"Oh behave, the pair of you." Draco said, shaking his head at Blaise. "The only reason Pansy is coming with me instead of you, is that if the moronic halfbreed comes out of his hut, I can grab her and make it look like we'd come out here with a far more sordid motive than messing with vegtables. I can't very well do that with you, can I?"

"Come on, mate. This is hardly fair, I'm playing look-out while you're turning his pumpkins blue or whatever it is you've cooked up."

"For the last time, we're not turning them blue. We're going to water them with confusing concoction so that when they get turned into pies, there'll be plenty of carnage to keep us amused." Draco adjusted the bag on his shoulder, carrying the potion vials.

"Do you not see the flaw in this plan? We're not going to be able to eat the pumpkin pie for ages." Blaise folded his arms, he really didn't see why he had to be the look out on this particular mission.

"What do you care?" Asked Pansy. "You don't even _like_ pumpkin pie."

"Oh shut up, Parkinson. He's only taking you because you're an easier lay than I am."

"What?!" Pansy snarled, moving towards Blaise, only to find that Draco had grabbed hold of the back of her robes, holding her back. "Get off me, Draco!" She batted at Draco's hand, while giving Blaise a murderous look. "You're such a fucking hypocrite, Zabini. How _dare_ you call me easy, when you've been working your way through almost every girl in Hogwarts? Is that why you've been hanging round with Granger? So you can see how long it takes to get into the frigid bitch's knickers?"

"Alright, that's enough!" Draco shouted, pulling Pansy back and standing in-between her and Blaise before their squabbling descended into an all out fight. "Just shut up, both of you! Pansy, you're coming with me, Blaise you're staying here to keep an eye out for anyone coming. Bloody hell."

Pansy scowled and turned on her heel, storming in the direction of Hagrid's pumpkin patch. Blaise frowned and turned himself, heading to the entrance way of the bridge, to keep look out for signs of anyone who might be wandering their way.

Draco sighed, before following after Pansy, shaking his head at the situation that had just played out before him, wondering if this stunt was worth the effort when all it had seemed to do so far was push Blaise further away, rather than bring them further together. He made a mental note to leave Pansy to her own devices at the weekend and sneak out with Blaise to the Hogshead, then perhaps they could laugh at the potential chaos caused by adding the potions to the pumpkins. As he reached Pansy, he pulled a vial from the bag and pressed it into her hand.

"Stop sulking and get to work." He ordered.

"Why do you always take his side?" Pansy asked, uncorking the vial and pouring it at the roots of a large pumpkin.

"I didn't and I don't. So, just drop it, Parkinson. You were both acting like a pair of five year olds." Draco said, uncorking a vial of his own and pouring it into the soil near another pumpkin.

"Oh really?" Pansy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll remember that the next time you want me to sneak into your dorm when the others are asleep, _Malfoy_."

"Well then, if you're going to continue acting like a child, perhaps that's a good thing."

Pansy folded her arms across her chest. "I am not acting like a child."

Draco grinned at her. "Really? Because that pose you're doing right now gives me evidence to the contrary."

She rolled her eyes and dropped her arms to her side. "You're intolerable."

"And you're still pouting."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Sorry this one took so long to put together, it's been a bit of an insane week for me.**

**Special thanks of course to my beta, Twiist for lending me Rodney the inspiration bat. **

**Thanks go to Jonathan J Strange, GiggleGinny, Snapefan2007, Lilykins, Ms.WrightingFantasy and hate2luv for all their lovely reviews. (No, I wasn't waiting for xmas :p lol)**

**Please R&R**


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